New Topographical Lunar Maps "based on data from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter which is aboard NASA's LRO. To create the maps, the cartographers used more than 6.5 billion measurements collected between 2009 and 2013."
jc-04.20.15

The Imagination Machine from S7 Airlines lets people control a virtual airplane by using their brains as game controllers.
jc-04.17.15

"In March 2011, Geographicus Rare Antique Maps, a specialist dealer in fine and rare antiquarian cartography and historic maps, donated their collection of over 2000 digital images to Wikimedia Commons. Here is just a small selection of a really great collection."
dw-04.16.15

"One of the most remarkable and mysterious technical advances in the history of the world is written on the hide of a 13th-century calf. Inked into the vellum is a chart of the Mediterranean so accurate that ships today could navigate with it."
ms-03.23.15

Related to the last (maybe more than I'll ever know), thanks Chicago for following me around and adding bike lanes everywhere I go, it's uncanny, they did Hubbard and more of Lake Street over the weekend.
bb-10.27.14

"City Railway System is a new approach to projecting the identity of a city onto its subway map. Whereas conventional subway maps aim at conveying information as clearly and concisely as possible, the City Railway System by ZERO PER ZERO distinctively incorporates symbolic elements of each city into its map while preserving clarity." Via Sploidms-10.13.14

Make your own little slice of Norway using the Terrafab 3D modeling system. Just choose your fjords, or whatever you like, and print it in sandstone. Note: "We have since updated the color scheme: your mountains will be darker, more brooding — your vegetation a more restrained hue." Via Things Mag.
jc-06.26.14

"I can't stop thinking about the possibility of one of the lines, or the thin metal beam supporting it breaking which would most likely cause the rider to fall to his death." The Swing at the End of the World.
sd-06.13.14

An email sent to myself last night: "Look up Delaware Water Gap." And here's that info. Mission accomplished.
sd-06.13.14

"A riddle. Children, what is this? A figure? No! It is the name 'Otta', the soap with the crayfish logo!" A quick history, along with some faded billboards and scanned ads, of Prague's Otta Soap.
sd-04.17.14

A main reason why we're obsessed with subway and metro maps is that each map's designer approaches the problem from a different angle, each communicates information in a way that is unique to the city being mapped. So, you'd expect us to be wary of Jug Cerovic's standardization system for metro maps. And we are. But it is pretty sweet.
jc-04.08.14

"I have developed a technique to replicate the amazing nighttime images of cities taken from the astronauts on the International Space Station. These are artistic interpretations that are geographically accurate and match the real images as closely as possible." Gorgeous Nighttime City Maps. Via The Roosevelts.
ms-03.18.14

"Manners with cars in America are really damn good. Japanese people should be embarrassed when they look at how good car manners are in America. You must wait whenever you cross an intersection for the traffic light. People don't get pushy to go first. Except for some people, everyone keeps exactly to the speed limit. America is a car society, but their damn good manners are not limited to cars." Japanese travel tips for visiting America.
dw-02.18.14

Bigfoot Sightings in the US and Canada, mapped. Thanks Andrew.
jc-09.25.13

"11. Because you meet taxi drivers who listen to poetry while driving, and even if you do not understand Persian, the rhythm, the sound, the music of the language cradle you along the road." 30 (and more) reasons to visit Iran.
sd-09.20.13

"Modeling the real world, with constraints like melting ice cream and idiosyncratic human behavior, is often where the real challenge lies." A great piece on solving the Traveling Salesman Problem using math and instinct, Unhappy Truckers and Other Algorithmic Problems, by Tom Vanderbilt.
jc-07.25.13

"...the tiny uninhabited island - a glacier-covered volcanic shield lying at the far southern end of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge - is literally the most remote place on Earth." Jim Hughes on Bouvet Island.
jc-07.22.13

"Even though you may use a station every day as part of your commute to work or school, it's likely you have no idea where the stamp is located." Riding the Yamanote Line Railway Stamp Rally, by Mayu Fueki for PingMag.
jc-07.19.13

"...current maps, as we know them today, are obsolete." As demonstrated by this video, the size and shape of a place can be displayed in ways that go beyond strict geography. Timemaps incorporates public transportation and time of day to redraw The Netherlands according to the relative time needed to travel between places. Brilliant. More from the creator Vincent Meertens, here.
jc-05.21.13

"Places like Amsterdam, Stockholm and Venice have long histories and illustrated maps from the Age of Discovery, 15th to 17th century. Chicago's a newer city but I thought it needed something similar to recognize the photogenic lakefront and architectural legacy." Phil Thompson's Lakefront Currents. Via Curbed.
dw-05.06.13

12 Hour long itineraries that boil down the best a place has to offer in one handy schedule.
dw-05.03.13

A couple of years ago, Australian illustrator James Gulliver Hancock moved to New York City and, in an effort to "own" his new home in his unique way, set out to draw every single building in town.
ab-04.15.13

"i got bitten by a snake in my bed and got rushed to hospatil and all the boss did was put the snake in the bin. Aslo no one told us it was all hills and my nan has breathing problims and she fainted and also ended up in hospatil." Tripadvisaargh.
dw-02.13.13

That last link is from Venue, "a pop-up interview studio and multimedia rig traveling around North America through September 30th" under the direction of Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley. Bookmarked.
jc-01.24.13

Hand-drawn and "meticulous maps showing the names and locations of every brothel, bar, casino and saloon that existed in the Cheyenne and Levee Districts of Chicago between 1870 and 1905." Just wow. "Click to enlarge" is good advice. Via Matt Fraction.
jc-12.06.12

Found on the way to researching something else: Highpointers, an organization dedicated to discussing, and visiting, the highest elevations in the country.
sd-11.08.12

For BB: Long Live the Kings, a short documentary about taking a road trip through Europe by motorcycle and shooting it on film.
sd-10.16.12

On Monday, October 8th, Felix Baumgartner will attempt a 120,000 foot skydive from the edge of space.
dw-10.05.12

My wife and I are visiting Santa Fe, which has a thriving craft brewing scene. Last month, the first annual "Art of the Brew" Festival included Green Chile Cerveza, Flemish Sour Ales, and plenty more. The Santa Fe Reporter has a video recap.
dh-10.05.12

"The small white areas on the California coast are the only areas that aren't in any major league fair territory." —Craig Robinson. God, I love this concept and map, The Foul Lines of Major League Baseball Do Not Create Infinite Ballfields.
jc-10.03.12

A great post from the always funny Sweet Juniper: "The true story of how we brought two kids to Italy in August and barely traumatized them at all," as told in three parts.
sd-09.27.12

It's amazing how many of these future US map prophecies came true, including Rhode Island sinking into the ocean in the mid-90s, and the creation of the Phoenix Seaport once California became a chain of islands.
sd-09.27.12

"With food as a universal language, we intend to engage individuals from multiple socioeconomic backgrounds using the bistro table as common ground. Every day for 50 days, we will seek out an individual/family with whom there is no connection (perfect stranger) and engage with them by either purchasing and/or preparing a meal for them."
dw-07.20.12

Zero Per Zero's
Tokyo Railway System "is a railway map of Tokyo metropolitan area whose overall image is inspired by the circle of the national flag of Japan (Hinomaru). Concentric circling lines spread out to the entire city with the center of the Yamanote line." Spectacular. See the other city maps too.
jc-07.20.12

Zero Per Zero's
Tokyo Railway System "is a railway map of Tokyo metropolitan area whose overall image is inspired by the circle of the national flag of Japan (Hinomaru). Concentric circling lines spread out to the entire city with the center of the Yamanote line." Spectacular. See the other city maps too.
jc-07.20.12

"Yeah, Grindhouse is right around the corner on Howards End, over there in The Village." Hot off the heels of their popular Song Map, the design team Dorothy have released the Film Map.
sd-07.19.12

Gettysburg mapped, an excellent illustrated post from Codex 99, including clean scans of the famous and beautiful Bachelder "daily maps."
jc-07.09.12

"You know you have good friends, kids, when you can give them no notice and they show right up on your doorstep in perfect pirate garb." Sweet Juniper continues to reign as parent of the century with A Pirate Adventure, held to mark the arrival of the first day of summer (and to keep the kids busy for a day).
sd-07.03.12

"I rode 10 miles north, and then turned west, and bumped into two guys at outside of a bowling lane. One guy, Lee Hamlet, said I could sleep in the field behind his auto repair shop. I took him up on the offer. He threw me a beer. I told him about the trip thus far, mentioning that it was only 18 degrees during my first night, back in Virginia. Lee's buddy looked me up and down and said, 'You're a durable fucker, huh?'" Johnny Waldmen's eventful cross-country bike ride.
jc-06.21.12

Check out the weather along your road trip route with The Weather Channel's new trip planner.
dw-06.19.12

"Over the course of two weeks we covered 5158.3 miles, 17 states, 2 speeding tickets... heard Adele on the radio more than we care to remember, ate more gas station food than could ever be healthy, broke into Four Corners National Park and made out at the Four Corners in the pitch black desert night, and learned that the line between man-made and nature is blurrier than we had previously believed."
dw-05.11.12

Get anything you want from anywhere in the world by rewarding a traveler for delivering the goods.
dw-05.04.12

"While living in Barcelona, inspired by each corner that I turned, I began to carry my camera with me at all times. Over time, I began to collect a nice batch of photos of architecture, store fronts, art exhibits, but mostly, a very eclectic mix of Barcelona public art. Over the past few months, I have been organizing these photos to share something that gave me a lot of inspiration over the past two years." MBPA.
dw-04.05.12

Assuming the internet still works during the coming zombie apocalypse, this map should come in handy. via Gapers Block.mcj-04.04.12

An invisible, ancient source of energy surrounds us – energy that powered the first explorations of the world, and that may be a key to the future. This map shows you the delicate tracery of wind flowing over the US right now. Via swissmiss.
dw-03.29.12

ExtendNY, The Manhattan Grid extended to every point on Earth. A project by Harold Cooper. Via Manhattan-ization, a fascinating post from Kosmograd.
jc-03.22.12

"When we travel, packing our bags is the first part of the adventure. Finding the balance between necessities, showing off in a new city, and leaving space for all your shopping is an art." I Am Packed.
dw-01.30.12

"Pheasant Island is not only the oldest surviving condominium, it is also the only one where sovereignty isn't shared simultaneously, but alternately. For six months a year, Pheasant Island is French; for the other six, it is Spanish." Frank Jacobs on "The World's Most Exclusive Condominium."
sd-01.24.12

Cameron writes, "...thought you'd like to see my latest creation. This time, it's U.S. Routes (the old highways like Route 66 and the 101). This one almost did my head in, it's so complex and convoluted." Yowza, U.S. Routes as a Subway Map.
jc-12.20.11

Related to the last. Felicity Aston is almost to the South Pole on skis and alone. Follow her trek on Twitter.
jc-12.14.11

"Exactly 100 years ago today, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole, effectively ending a race that he had been engaged in for years with his British rival, Robert Falcon Scott. Both men had been eager to become the first to plant his country's flag at 90°S, and in doing so, they created one of the most indelible and tragic stories in the history of exploration."
dw-12.14.11

"The Waldseemüller map is a printed wall map of the world by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller, originally published in April 1507. It is known as the first map to use the name 'America'. A single copy of the map survives."
dw-11.10.11

Nicely shot short doc about The Triple Crown, wherein bike riders must summit Vancouver's Seymour, Grouse and Cypress mountains in just one day. Via Doobybrain.
sd-11.10.11

"The pain and humiliation of not being a billionaire is a part of every interaction here. If I had never left as a child and then bought a part of some ferrous-metal enterprise at a rigged auction during the Yeltsin era, I wouldn't be bargaining over a $40 cab ride." The New Moscow, by Gary Shteyngart. Via TMN.
jc-10.12.11

"Some of that can come serendipitously, while wandering the city. Big, busty Roman matrons with tiny lap dogs, workmen struggling with an enormous red sofa in the shape of a pair of lips—sometimes I get the feeling that Fellini's up there in the sky somewhere, directing this stuff." Fellini's Rome, by Lee Marshall.
jc-10.07.11

Related to the last, and from way, way back in 2001! Susan and I created a feature on transit maps for Brian Taylor's ahead-of-its-time Dodge Magazine, see pages 19-21, many links are 404 I'm afraid.
jc-09.28.11

"Border Town is a 10-week, multi-participant collaborative design studio that will investigate the conditions that surround life in cities situated on borders, divided by borders, or located in conflict zones."
dw-09.14.11

"The majority of the island is held under a conservation easement granted by the Keweenaw Land Trust assuring it's unique ecosystem will remain healthy in perpetuity. A very small cabin is planned over the next several years which will be sustainable and built using the rocks and wood on the island. It will serve as a place of scientific study, creative expression and recreation for the generations." Rabbit Island in Lake Superior.
dw-08.19.11

"You will discover the astonishing landscapes of our world and the infinity of space through the pod's panoramic windows, all in a quiet, warm, comfortable atmosphere." Bloon.
dw-08.18.11

The Crumpled City Map can be easily crammed into your pocket, backpack or the carrying pouch provided without having to worry about refolding it along the original creases. Via Lost At E Minor.
dw-08.17.11

So you know. In 1908 it was decided that State Street would be the dividing line between east and west in Chicago's street numbering system. Madison would divide the north and the south. Eleven years before that, Thomas Edison made a short film at the intersection where those streets meet.
jc-07.19.11

See Something or Say Something, by Eric Fischer. "Red dots are locations of Flickr pictures. Blue dots are locations of Twitter tweets. White dots are locations that have been posted to both." Via Andrew Sullivan.
jc-07.14.11

On Yer Bike is design student Jun Kwon's proposal for a well-considered graphics and information system for urban cycling.
jc-07.14.11

Codex 99 on The Atlas of Florida, Erwin Josephus Raisz and the development of the landform map.
jc-07.13.11

"This is an experimental media project, tracking the deployment of 1/8
-1st Battalion, Eighth Marines, throughout the duration of their
deployment to southern Afghanistan. A small team of mobile media
operators is embedded with the battalion, transmitting their reports
and reflections from Helmand province as they travel across the
battalion's area of operations Via ACLms-07.07.11

"Heathrow Heritage is a series of excursions run as a cooperation where the activists, historians and residents with the assistance of the airport deacon take stranded passengers for bike tours around the ancient villages under threat from airport expansion. It's an activity that brings 2 communities together and leaves entertaining and memorable experiences for the passengers and a new form of activism for the protesters."
dw-06.28.11

What does Britain sound like? It depends where you listen. UK Sound Map.
jc-06.14.11

The Hoje Malebordsblade is "a mosaic of several hundred individual 1:20,000 sheets and was the first official civilian topographical map of Denmark." An update on an older, fabulous Codex 99 post.
jc-06.13.11

An interactive map that allows you to find and translate over 10,000 newspapers from all around the world.
ms-06.09.11

"This print is a reproduction of Matthew Fontaine Maury's Whale Chart. Lieutenant M.F. Maury (1806-1873) was the chief the U.S. Naval Observatory and one of the most important nautical thinkers of his day. He conceived of the Whale Chart in the 1840s to aid the whaling community."
dw-06.02.11

Skate the State, in which four friends skateboarded across the whole of Nebraska to raise money for the state's only indoor skate park, wrapped up this weekend. Dig through the archives to read up on the 420+ mile trip.
sd-05.31.11

Although now long dormant, Motel Americana provides a nice look at those disappearing places to hang your hat along the highway.
sd-05.24.11

Skate the State kicked off this past Sunday, with four friends skateboarding across the whole of Nebraska to help raise $50,000 for the state's only indoor skate park. Love the project's new logo.
sd-05.24.11

"Two brothers riding recycled bicycles across the United States and meeting people. Lots of them." They're also documenting the trip on a nicely designed and well-written web journal so we can saddle up with them, America reCycled. Thanks Marsh.
jc-05.20.11

"The United Great Lakes is a hydrostate encompassing the entire drainage basin of the Great Lakes plus a chunk of the St. Lawrence River Basin. These territories ceded from Canadian provinces and American states are organized into administrative cantons coterminus with the sub-basins of each individual lakes. The capital city is Chicago."
dw-04.06.11

"I joined twenty-one dating sites in order to make my own census of the United States in 2010. These are my findings: a road atlas of the United States, with the names of cities, towns, and neighborhoods replaced with the words people use to describe themselves and those they want to be with." A More Perfect Union by R. Luke DuBois. Via Boing Boing.
jc-04.06.11

The Hungarian National Association of Radio Distress-Signalling and Infocommunica-tions operates the Emergency and Disaster Information Service, monitoring and documenting "all the events on the Earth which may cause disaster or emergency." Via J-Walk.
sd-03.16.11

The Seattle Band Map is a project that showcases the Pacific Northwest's vibrant music scene by documenting the thousands of bands who have performed and recorded throughout the decades. Via Wired.
ms-03.02.11

"The lottery of birth is responsible for much of who we are. If you were not born in the country you were, what would your life be like?"
dw-01.20.11

Tinywrld, a mosaic of the world made out of tilt-shifted videos.
dw-01.19.11

Just watched Werner Herzog's excellent 2004 documentary The White Diamond last night and now digging through Graham Dorrington's Dendronautics site, dedicated to "exploration of the rain forest canopy using airships and other methods."
sd-01.18.11

Here & There, a cool horizonless projection of Manhattan. Found among other Things.
jc-01.07.11

Wanting to move to rural Australia but don't want to spend a lot in the process? Through the Trundle Tree Change, you can rent a farmhouse for $1 per week (with the provision that you live there for 3 years and renovate the house along the way).
sd-11.24.10

"Using county-level data, I spatially and temporally interpolated presidential vote returns for the two major party candidates in each election from 1920-2008." Isarithmic History of the Two-Party Vote.
sd-11.24.10

"This visualization draws a red circle at the center of each zip code indicating the number of people who travel to or from that area. The blue lines show the driving directions." Harry Kao's Commute Map.
jc-09.23.10

On first glance, it's quite a classy-looking wall map, but if you carefully scratch off the places you've been on holiday, it reveals some lovely colorful and geographic detail. My Scratch Map. Via Apartment Therapy.
dw-07.23.10

Four years in the making by Art.Lebedev. We have linked the new Moscow Metro map previously, but here's an awesome "making of" post that walks through the design process and details some options that were considered.
jc-07.09.10

"Songs about musicians being 'on the road' don't qualify unless they actually mention roads." Some Road Songs from the US DOT Federal Highway Administration. Now that's government in action, via Mefi.
jc-07.07.10

Giving you an insight into Twitter activity from around the world, the Tweet-o-Meter.
ms-07.06.10

LAxNYC.
"We've left Los Angeles to move in New York City. We've decided to drive across the country. During this 14 days trip, we have driven 4129 miles through 14 states and we've sent 94 postcards." Via Feltron.
jc-05.25.10

The drive from the mountains of Kentucky to the coast of Spain is around three hours. A map produced by Paramount in 1927 showing where you go in California to shoot things that take place in other parts of the world.
sd-05.24.10

The strange phenomenon of frazil ice at Yosemite National Park.
sd-05.24.10

"All we wanted was a simple, modern world map. When our search turned up nothing but glossy posters and cheap antique reproductions, we knew it was time to design our own." And it's gorgeous along with all their other maps. Via Surfstation.
ms-05.14.10

"If you ever find yourself driving through Chiapas, Mexico, in the middle of a nighttime downpour that seems to have been procured by K'uk'ulkan himself and obscures any vision you might have of the road ahead of you through your rapidly blinking rental windshield wipers, you should probably know that in Chiapas, the highways have speedbumps." Travel Tips We Learned the Hard Way.
dw-05.05.10

"Unlike some of my previous excursions out into the world, this will not be a drug-fueled, heavily-armed Thompsonesque nightmare trip." Former Guest Editor and Field-Tested Books contributor Leonard Piece has headed out for three months to aimlessly wander state roads and scenic routes, and will be reporting on it all at One Car Jam.
sd-05.05.10

We've been big fans of Jan Chipchase's Future Perfect for years. We always list it when asked about our favorite places on the web. The new design of the site is just about perfect for his posts of photos and observations from his various Field Studies. Bookmark it.
jc-04.20.10

Mapfrappe, a Google mashup that lets you compare outlines of certain parts of the world overlayed on another part of the world. Check this mashup of Tiananmen Square vs. Red Square. Via MeFi.
ms-04.13.10

Very Small Array's The Real Park Slope and the college stickers on the rear windows of cars that are parked there.
jc-04.12.10

"Travel like a human" is the motto of Airbnb, which is "an online marketplace allowing anyone from private residents to commercial properties to rent out their extra space." In other words, if you had "stay in a Vermont treehouse" on your bucket list, consider yourself served.
ncz-04.01.10

"By reducing the amount of information, and rendering the oceans in white and landmasses in black, the corona globe highlights the reliefs of islands and coastlines." Fab. Via Minimalissimo.
dw-03.09.10

Local note for CTA enthusiasts. On Sunday, March 28th a four car train using Chicago's oldest cars, the 2200-series built by Budd in 1969-1970, will travel on almost every line as well as some non-revenue and yard trackage. Snowflake Special on the CTA. Via CTA Tattler.
dw-02.26.10

Cracking the Planet, a nicely illustrated post at Bldgblog on the most efficient way to map a sphere in two dimensions. And just in case you like this sort of thing, you'll find this just exactly the sort of thing you like.
jc-12.14.09

"When the third told me his donkey's name was H'mar, I realized it couldn't be a coincidence." Susan Orlean finds unsung majesty in Morocco's hard-working donkeys.
aro-08.31.09

"I have been an avid map collector and roadgeek ever since I can remember. From the age of 3 or 4 I have designed my own cities and nations and have since drawn a few hundred maps." Revisiting The Map Realm, the fictional road maps of Adrian Leskiw.
jc-08.27.09

"CityMurmur aims at addressing maps and diagrams not as passive representation of realities but as tools for interpretation and action." NOLA and Madrid are currently murmuring. Via Infosthetics.
jc-08.10.09

"I have been working on a city map series of Linocuts, This is the latest in the series. The carving took 2 months of daily work, and the design took 4 months. I will be printing this in the next few weeks." Paris. Wow.
jc-07.22.09

Atlas Obscura, a new "compendium of this age's wonders, curiosities and esoterica." Excellent. Recently added: the world's largest Tesla coil.
jc-06.04.09

This summer David de Rothschild and his crew will sail from San Francisco to Sydney on a boat made out of plastic bottles. The Plastiki Expedition. Via Good.
dw-06.01.09

This map was constructed by sorting roughly 800,000 published papers into 776 different scientific paradigms based on how often the papers were cited together by authors of other papers.
dw-05.28.09

If you're ever visiting Beijing, my recommendation is to skip all the regular tourist haunts and visit the 798 Art District, which is full of contemporary art galleries inside of Bauhaus style factories built by East Germans in the 1950s. In particular, make the UCCA one of your first stops.
sd-05.24.09

A very quickly edited clip of the sand dune sledding from earlier today here in Dunhuang. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a POV shot for fear of a) getting a lens full of sand or b) having the desert swallow my camera.
sd-05.17.09

After today's three hour drive to the Yadan National Geological Park (or "The Devil City"), I'm convinced that all the moon landings were faked and shot there. I offer Exhibits I, II, and III.
sd-05.16.09

"On May 3rd 2008, artists Robin Hewlett and Ben Kinsley invited the Google Inc. Street View team and residents of Pittsburgh's Northside to collaborate on a series of tableaux along Sampsonia Way."
jc-04.16.09

We have a dump truck site near the studio. Sometimes they drop some pretty huge dumpsters and the whole studio shakes. On other occasions, the earthquake-whisperer in me swears it's something more. When BB looks at me like I'm nuts, DW smiles indulgently, and SD ignores us all, I go here to prove my case. I have actually been right. Twice. The rest of the times don't count.
ms-04.01.09

"A while ago, I had an idea for a website that automatically creates time lapse videos of drives through cities using images from the Street View feature of Google Maps. This is a rough example of what it might look like." Via Waxy.
jc-03.28.09

Peacay on old -fashioned panoramas or Accidentally Anamorphic. A great post, copiously annotated and illustrated.
jc-11.12.08

Rand McNally's new FabMaps. Great for cyclists or motorcyclists, and only $2 w/free shipping. I only wish they had state and metro-area versions, it's hard to get lost on the Magnificent Mile.
bb-11.10.08

"On May 3rd 2008, artists Robin Hewlett and Ben Kinsley invited the Google Inc. Street View team and residents of Pittsburgh's Northside to collaborate on a series of tableaux along Sampsonia Way." Street With a View. Via bblinks.
sd-11.06.08

Mark Newman updates his famous election maps page with last night's results. That was fast, especially considering no one's called North Carolina yet.
bb-11.05.08

"It's still possible to travel around the world without airborne transportation, of course. And here also the travel times have greatly diminished since Phileas Fogg's era." Around the world in 42 days.
jc-10.06.08

"The Atlas of the Real World uses software to depict the nations of the world, not by their physical size, but by their demographic importance on a range of subjects. Here, we select a series of travel- and news-related maps."
dw-10.01.08

Qantas was always my favourite airline when I was a kid, and they're impressing me still with the new Marc Newson-designed cabins for their Airbus A380. Most details are subtle and highly considered, which is even more important in the "mini-world" of an aircraft.
se-08.28.08

Finished with your summer travel? Live vicariously with Good Magazine's interactive Wanderlust, a map of history's greatest journeys.
se-08.22.08

If you hate taking your laptop out of your bag at airport screening then you might be interested in these. Via Gadling.
dw-08.20.08

Blurred Out: 51 Things You Aren't Allowed to See on Google Maps.
sd-07.17.08

"At some point in the conversation, one will ask the other, 'Where are you going?'" Rules for an American Road Trip. "'Nowhere,' with a shrug, is the only appropriate response to this question." Found among other things.
jc-07.11.08

"There are no tickets and no reductions for this visit to the underworld. A fat, unspiritual, greasy monk just takes the money and throws it into a basket with unexpected abruptness." A visit to The Museum of the Dead, perhaps a link to be avoided at night and while alone. Via I Like.
sd-06.17.08

The Singles Map, tracking "how many more singles there are in each metro area." If you're a man looking for love, stay out of California. If you're a woman in the same situation, steer clear of pretty much the whole East Coast.
sd-04.02.08

The Dome is Home, South Pole history 1975-90. Interesting in a sort of mundane, day-to-day way. Found among other things.
jc-04.01.08

Ben Saunders is skiing 478 miles to the North Pole in an attempt to break the world record.
dw-03.25.08

"An Atlas of Radical Cartography is a collection of 10 maps and 10 essays about social issues from globalization to garbage; surveillance to extraordinary rendition; statelessness to visibility; deportation to migration."
ms-01.21.08

A bit of a clumsy interface but worth the effort. Scottish architect Charles Rene Mackintosh kept a sketchbook of his European travels in 1891 and the Glasgow School of Art has put the entire thing online with annotations.
jc-01.10.08

Hello Chicago. Let's get off to a flying start with Aerolot, a fansite for LOT Polish Airlines. Their vintage collectables are up there with the best of Polish design.
anw-01.09.08

"Hesitations usually have to do with the patrons looking too scary, the proprietor too crabby, the cigarette smoke too thick, the housekeeping too marginal. But be brave. Take a seat. No one can pretend to know and love Paris and not its zincs.
dw-01.07.08

"My mother always said she had only two rules for me in life: 'Never ride a motorcycle and never hitchhike. That's all I ask. Everything else is up to you.' The first time I rode a motorcycle, it took only five minutes for me to burn a hole the size of a grapefruit in my right calf. Mom drove me to the hospital. 'Please, please don't hitchhike,' she said. But of course I did."
dw-01.04.08

Despite the fact that there are hundreds of beautiful old maps here, you will get lost.
jc-09.19.07

Edward Hann's IDP 06, "...using the uniformity and order of the grid, mixed with the natural topographical beauty of a landscape, to demonstrate the scale of humanitarian crisis in Western Darfur and Eastern Chad." Spectacular.
jc-09.19.07

My buddy Briana has been blogging about her American-in-Ukraine culture shock at Chick In Kiev. Just back from Moscow, she suggests that this may be the best statue ever. I agree, but I believe that's cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, not Colossus from X-Men.
bb-08.13.07

Start saving. For $4M you can take a 3 day vacation in space.
dw-08.10.07

List of the best and worst airports to sleep in. Apparently you shouldn't get caught at O'Hare, because it's the only bad one ranked in all the US ("smells like 'feet and broccoli,' noise, 'long walks' to find food, fluorescent lights buzz continuously"). Via Thrilling Wonder.
sd-05.21.07

Never Ending Drawing is a project by Oskar Karlin started in Stockholm in 2000. Inspired by Douglas Coupland's Microserfs Paul Auster's New York Trilogy, Karlin mapped his movements on a map of Stockholm, with every day a separate layer in Illustrator. After two years he moved to Berlin and repeted the project.
vp-05.16.07

Students from a South Shore High School art class were granted a simple assignment. Written on the chalkboard were the words, Which Chicago Do You Live In? and there were stacks of paper and writing utensils to use to answer by drawing a map.
Part of Lori Napoleon's Mapsprojects. Via Platial.
vp-05.12.07

"Carneteurs" are authors of travel diaries full of drawings, notes, photographs, tickets and small curiosities. Part artists, illustrators, cartoonists as well as writers, poets and reporters they have selected this way to describe their expeditions. The road book (in French) site is a tour around the world with an illustrator, and two musicians: Via Bldgblog.
vp-05.08.07

"Usually pen tablets are used to 'draw' pictures on the computer, but in Streetscape they allow you to 'walk' while listening to the sounds of the city, and to feel the close connection between the map and sounds." Streetscape, by Japanese artist Iori Nakai. Via Creativemapping.
vp-05.07.07

Eddie Jabbour's Kick Map of the NYC subway is reviewed and criticized by the MTA. I'm not a New Yorker, but the Kick Map looks like it has more benefits than drawbacks versus the official map. The MTA's main issue with the map is its loss of geographical accuracy. Either you are a frequent rider, in which case you probably know the city well enough to overcome that, or else you're a visitor who will be using another map for your geographical directions. If you're the latter, the Kick Map would easily top the official map in terms of clarity, lines and transfer points.
se-04.24.07

The lower and middle Mississippi Valley geology mapping program of the Army Corps of Engineers, specifically the Arkansas River basin. Download virtually any piece of the map for a spectacular piece of information aesthestics. Via BldgBlog, posted from the road.
jc-09.22.06

If you're visiting Israel anytime soon and the sheer size of the landmarks is proving too much for you, a trip to Mini Israel is sure to cure what ails you.
sd-07.27.06

"As I swam back again, though, the harsh and dangerous realities of this beautiful place became apparent. My body started to shut down – I could feel my muscles seize up and my circulation begin to stop." Charles Glover takes a two week trip to Antarctica.
dw-07.27.06

"A mythic white dome out in the desert built by a 1950s UFO contactee named George Van Tassel." Santa Monica to the Integraton, a contribution to the NPR "A Hundred Bucks of Gas" series by Jennifer Sharpe. Reading is nice, listening is better.
jc-07.18.06

Peacay on The Portolan Atlas. "An early modern European rendering, usually on vellum, in which complete coasts, ports and waterways were depicted together with characteristic direction lines from the thirty-two points of the compass." Especially nice, this table of declinations.
jc-07.13.06

A cornucopia of transit maps for a slow holiday Monday. Also, fished out of the wayback machine, The Map is the Thing, a feature SE and I did for Dodge Magazine #1 (p19). The links are mostly broken, but perhaps it's still worth a peek.
jc-07.03.06

While others are biking, Christian will be running from coast to coast starting July 1. Thanks John.
dw-06.29.06

"Why did you choose to visit the Chelsea? We're staying at Chelsea Hotel to retype [Valerie Solanas'] manifesto since she wrote it there 30 years ago." The Hotel Chelsea Blog, "The Last Outpost of Bohemia." Via Maud Newton.
sd-06.08.06

The new host of Extreme Engineering is a stand-up comedian - and a graduate student in architecture at Harvard University. He now flies around the world cracking jokes in front of the world's largest architectural structures, while studying to get his degree. Dream job? Read this interview and howl with envy.
gm-05.31.06

Where atomic bomb pits, Buddhist statuary, crashed Japanese airplanes, cargo cults, and flooding archipelagos all meet: Ballardian.com takes a tour of the South Pacific.
gm-05.30.06

"It's a good thing that the Martin Gropius Building has such high ceilings. It'll need them. The exhibit at the Berlin museum includes 15-ton statues sculpted from rose-colored granite that have spent millennia on the ocean floor." Ancient Alexandria on display. Via The Nonist.
jc-05.15.06

Apparently learning from Jim's example, nearly 80 Colombian tribespeople have "wandered out of the wilderness, half-naked, a gaggle of children and pet monkeys in tow, and declared themselves ready to join the modern world."
gm-05.11.06

The Mars Citizenship Program is now underway: "robots could set up the first Martian habitats - including a nuclear reactor - in about 10 years, for an initial $2 billion investment. That amount could be raised if 90,000 Earthlings parted with $10,000 each; 10,000 handed over $100,000 apiece and 100 tycoons each donated $1 million." New Scientist.
gm-05.10.06

Since 1962, Heinz Stucke has traveled 335,500 miles, riding the same bike on a tour around the world. Then he got to England: his bike was stolen within hours.
gm-05.09.06

Freaky images of new deep sea species collected from the Sargasso Sea... Wired. Or see these four pages of photos.
gm-05.08.06

Leo Fabrizio, the "bunker hunter," has tracked down and photographed over 3000 bunkers hidden throughout the Swiss landscape. WMMNA. Photo gallery.
gm-05.05.06

The most insane intersection I've ever seen: it's Swindon's five-roundabouts-within-a-roundabout, spinning both anti- and clock-wise simultaneously: story (you can even buy a t-shirt!) and diagram. Good luck. (Via Sean F.)
gm-05.03.06

The Four Color Theorem which says "any map can be colored using four colors in such a way that adjacent regions (i.e. those sharing a common boundary segment, not just a point) receive different colors." Via, of course, The Map Room.
jc-04.18.06

Southwest Airlines is more like a bus than an airplane, but sometimes they are just too cheap to avoid. I just used the awesome, free service Board-A to automatically get me checked into Group A and thus, get a chance to plant my bottom in the seat of my choice. Great service.
jw-03.14.06

Arlo writes, "The Moscow Metro has maps on their website going all the way back to 1931. Like our hometown of Chicago, Moscow has a loop, and on the modern map, it makes for an fascinating circle motif that is at once informative and visually pleasing. The locations where a rider can transfer stand out without overwhelming the rest of the composition."
jc-01.16.06

"Esso's map of Europe was drawn in the USA by the General Drafting Co of New Jersey. On most issues, such as those from 1953, 1956 and 1960 it was backed by 'a Pictorial Guide to Happy Motoring' - an outline map of the continent with several hundred small colour drawings of notable landmarks and customs."
jc-01.13.06

City of Sound, "Map of Europe in which real distances seem shorter thanks to the high-speed train." So cool.
jc-01.13.06

Soviet Military Maps 1950-90. "These are of astonishing accuracy and contain an amazing level of detail, especially considering they were compiled under great secrecy during the Cold War." Via The Map Room.
jc-11.28.05

Mapping Toponymy
"how regional differences in placenaming developed. I already had the vague sense that terms like 'hollow' and 'cove' for mountain valleys was more common in the Appalachians and the Ozarks, while 'gulch' seemed more of a western term." Fascinating project, via Infosthetics.
jc-10.31.05

"The visibility of each country on the map results from the quantity of media coverage the country receives, so those countries that do not make the news disappear progressively." Vanishing Pointdw-08.16.05

Once in a while we drop hints about what we think are our ambitious plans into our weblog. Or at least we thought they were ambitious, until we read Ben Saunders post yesterday. "Here's the plan. The first return journey to the South Pole on foot and the longest unsupported polar journey in history." We just sponsored mile 24. How bout you?
jc-07.22.05

Mapping Worlds. "We develop maps in which the size of a country is rendered by an indicator, rather than by its geography." Known as cartograms, the maps are offered as PDF's and reveal much. Via the Map Room.
jc-07.19.05

Rob gets the week going with a couple transit links. "Tile patterns of Toronto Subway stations reproduced as 1" pinback buttons and an unofficial 'efficiency guide' to the subway, to help one plan which car to get in, in order to arrive near an exit or stairway at your destination."
jc-05.23.05

We're off to "the endangered species capital of the world" next month to see firsthand the source material for Remains of a Rainbow, a luscious collection of "portraits" of the endangered plants and animals of Hawai'i by David Liittschwager and Susan Middleton, two ex-Avedon assistants who bring a studio photographer's sensibility into nature with amazing finesse.
mr-01.29.05

"Some of my colleagues make the error of trying to be reasonable, Floyd. Objectivity is the greatest threat to the United States today." David Brower to Floyd Dominy in John McPhee's Encounters with the ArcHDruid (1971 - but more relevant today than ever). One of my two favorite books on any topic, excerpted here. The other being Cadillac Desert which should change your assumptions about ... well, just about everything by the time you're through.
mr-01.06.05

Only 2.5 percent of the world's water is freshwater. Two thirds of that is frozen. 20 percent is too remote and most of the rest arrives when we don't need or want it (hurricanes, floods, monsoons). This leaves 0.08 percent available for drinking and washing (our cars). Are you thirsty yet? No, this isn't a friday night drinking signal.
mr-01.04.05

It's getting very cartographic around here. I received some beautiful maps from Raven Maps which I gave as Christmas gifts. Arizona, in particular, looks great in this format. And Jim just received his impressive Alaska, U.S.A.. We need more walls.
se-01.03.05

Cartographer as design hero. David Imus and Patrick Dunlavey in cooperation with The Alaska Geographic Society have spent three years creating this new map of Alaska. "I'm not satisfied to take another mapmaker's word for it," he said. "Do they say the road is paved? Well, I want to talk to the road engineer." Cha-Ching. Via The Map Room.
jc-12.28.04

Heading for vacation. To exactly here. Man, that Terraserver is something.
jc-08.24.04

Richard Phillip's Map Typography, consisiting of "a series of experiments on the legibility of type on maps. We argue that a search task is one of the best method for evaluating map typography and we have been able to formulate some practical recommendations on typography for the map designer." Via the aforementioned Make Ready.
jc-08.19.04

Inspired by the 28th Olympiad: Flags of the World. Can you recognize Bhutan's? Exactly.
rs-08.18.04

The Degree Confluence Project "The goal of the project is to visit each of the latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world, and to take pictures at each location. The pictures and stories will then be posted here." I was going to point out a couple interesting postings, but that's impossible. Once you start roaming the site you can't stop hopping from place to place. An amazing, collaborative piece which was started in 1996 by Alex Jerret and is currently 18% complete representing 3768 individual confluences documented.
jc-03.18.04

A good resource for yer next roadtrip: Ghosttowns.com, that is, if "strayin' off the beaten path" is yer traveling forte'. (Turn the music down a bit, or enjoy the hokey loops.) Click around a bit on a route you've taken, and check out how many dead places you pass up in the normal course of a day on the road. Arizona alone has quite a collection of dusty old haunts.
ad-01.23.04

Linked before. Shall be linked again. The Motherlode. Ephermera from the 1800's is stock certificates, bank notes, letters, railroad collateral, bills of fare, steamer schedules and tons of other stuff. Check this map that shows the Calumet Electric Street Car Line and beautiful Chicago Boulevards. Mark Forder found much of this treasure in "The Steele Box." Wonderous.
jc-01.15.04

A hearty collection of larger-than-life "World's Largest" monstrosities. Good crowd out there tonight, boys, let's really try to win, eh. The one that got away. Been through here, many a time. Almost lost it on this one.
ad-01.14.04

Rail by rail, we offer up a whole stretch of Hobo links. Hobo signs. Hobo literature. Hobo art. (Scroll down and dig the whittling! The kind of carvin' that gives us a reason to keep livin'!) Take off yer hat, rest on one knee and share a moment of silence for those we lost... remembering those who Took the Westbound to Hobo heaven. Once we finished up paying our respects, we spent a good hour or so with North Bank Fred. (FYI: "Hobo" is short for "Homeward Bound.")
ad-01.10.04

In the category of "people who like this sort of thing will find this exactly the sort of thing they like," check Chris Corrigan's Maps and Territories, an occasional blog by an amateur map lover. Found among other thingsjc-01.09.04

Chicago has streets named for Curtis Mayfield and Ken Nordine, NYC finally caught up by naming the corner of Second Street and The Bowery "Joey Ramone Place."bb-11.26.03

I have a confession to make. When I was in Chicago, I actually frequented this bar quite often. It happened to be just down the road from where I lived, at Ontario Place. This is sad, isn't it?
rz-11.14.03

Old London - an image database containing over 20,000 prints, maps, drawings, paintings and sculpture from its collections. Fantastic.
rz-11.11.03

When I lived in London, nobody I knew would take the Tube between Leicester Square and Covent Garden. It's only 250m away, not to mention the pubs you'd miss while underground. Tube map with walklines, thanks to Marshall.
se-10.08.03

The Times has a piece on Northern Michigan that will have all of us, especially Midwesterners, counting our vacation days and looking into B&Bs. The article neglects to mention Upper Michigan's roots as a destination for city dwellers, like Hemingway, who suffered from hay fever at lower latitudes.
dr-08.05.03

Map of the Richmond and Louisville R.R. connecting the railroads of Virginia with the railroads of Kentucky on the shortest route east and west of the Mississippi Valley to the Atlantic Ocean. For a map freak, what could be nicer than that? Railroad Maps from 1828-1900.
jc-06.26.03

"The systematic engraving of [Paris] street names goes back to 1728, when the lieutenant de police of Paris stipulated that street names be posted on white steel sheets in big black characters." Via Plep.jc-06.24.03

Not For Tourists is a growing series of guides to major cities. Filled with tons of great information & useful maps. Don't miss the "ultimate web directories" for Chicago, New York, and L.A..
ka-06.03.03

Lonely Planet Images delivers many great glimpses of places where I'd rather be. Nice escapism.
msk-05.31.03

Kings of Africa illustrates government in a society much different than our own.
msk-05.31.03

"My minibus runs to 100 kilometres per hour on a motorway of 10 lanes. In the event of war, it would make a perfect landing strip. In two hours we pass four cars and very few people." The eerie stillness that is North Korea.
msk-05.19.03

"Roadside Peek will take you on a roadside journey in time. As you travel, visit old motels, bowling alleys, drive-in theatres, neon signs, petrol pumps, googie sites, tiki villages, and much more."
msk-05.19.03

Mabes is a geek for maps and for the Civil War so it's unlikely that we'll ever get him out of The Univesity of Texas Perry-CastaÒeda Map Collection.jc-05.16.03

Mysteries Under Moscow, a fascinating article about the secret life of ex-convicts, unidentified militias and other outlaws found lurking within Moscow's multi-layered underground labyrinth of abandoned sewer systems, government tunnels and bomb shelters.
js-06.08.02

If you want to get to the essence of a geographical place, say 16th and Mission for example, you have to start with a map. Via Archinect.jc-05.21.02

"The panoramic map was a popular cartographic form used to depict U.S. and Canadian cities and towns during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries." Via a dollarshort.jc-05.20.02

The Upsidedown Map Page. The world as viewed with the southern hemisphere on top. 'It came as a surprise to me after over 20 years of seeing "normal" world maps to come across an upsidedown one. The most surprising thing was that I found it surprising. It is completely artificial that we have North at the top of a map. '
sg-04.23.02

"Antonio Jorge Goncalves makes drawings of people sitting in subway trains in 10 cities around the world." He also has arranged them brilliantly in a precise flash navigation map. Subway Life. Superb. Via Portage.jc-04.22.02

David Williams writes, "Transit Toronto is a railfan site devoted to the Toronto Transit Commission, they have a great collection of transit maps, pictures, and historical accounts, including this map of the system as it was in 1933." Note: If you're wondering about our obsession with transit maps, check The Map is the Thing or our contribution to Dodge Magazine.jc-04.11.02

The Mappa Mundi is a large, elaborate, highly detailed medieval English world map. You can get a good look at it here, and see a simplified version here. The relative sizes of the continents are noteworthy, as are features such as the Pillars of Hercules, the Tower of Babel, Alexander's Wall and Paradise.
sg-04.08.02

Thanks to Jannis for sending along this great Berlin transit map.
se-02.28.02

I can't believe, for all the transit maps we have on coudal.com, we don't have the system that passes within 500 feet from both sides of our building and brings me to work everyday. Sheesh.
bb-02.28.02

Feeding the cp obsession with everything transport-related, I was intrigued by the piece on lauraholder.com about the New York subway trains that seem to play a song from West Side Story. And now the Times has picked up on the story.
se-02.06.02

"Keyhole fuses high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery, elevation data, GPS coordinates, and overlay information about cities and businesses to deliver a streaming, 3D map of the entire globe." If this thing does 10% of what they say it will, it's gonna be scary. Via DiK.jc-01.16.02

"In the winter of 2000/2001 Tom and Tina made a first attempt to reach the south and north Poles of the earth, alone and unsupported.›Their means of communication with the world were computers worn around their waists and monitors built into eyepieces on their heads." Via M. Sokoloff.
jc-01.09.02

With our obsession about subway maps, I believe we have overlooked the fact that trains have to load and unload somehere. Luckily, Metropolis Magazine hasn't. Their current issue includes a piece and photo gallery on modern station design. Plus, there's an interesting exhibit at our own Art Institute of Chicago called Modern Trains and Splendid Stations. jc-12.07.01

Kristie Willis writes. "I forget who is the lover of maps over there, but the David Rumsey Collection site is really fabulous, visually and technically." Yes it is, Kristie, Thanks!
guest-12.06.01

Two people, bounced by the dot-com collapse, travel the world with a digital camera and a laptop and keep their travel log at emergency exit. With its clean design, and excellent writing, you'll like emergency exit immediately.
kg-08.10.01

If you are ever driving up highway 1 in California be sure to stop at the Post Ranch Inn. An amazing example of "organic architecture" designed by architect Mickey Muening and interior designer Janet Gay Freed. The view from the Sierra Mar is absolutely amazing ...the picture on the site doesn't do it justice.
ka-08.06.01

"The flowers are blooming pretty. The garden has a homey feel about it. Shall we refresh with open air?" Accidental English text on various consumer products found in convenience stores and supermarkets in Japan.
bb-07.09.01

Let me get this straight÷ Internal combustion engines are the Devil's handiwork, but Macromedia Flash is OK? Amish Buggy Rides.bb-05.23.01

cp welcomes our summer intern, Theresa Lee, from Indiana University, with her first post: "the nav at the Parsons School of Design site is inspired by transport maps."
guest-05.11.01

Simon Patterson is a British artist who took the standard Tube map and reidentified the lines and stops with names of philosophers, movie stars, artists and other famous people. An interesting aspect is which names were chosen for the "transfer stops" where two lines cross. Simon discusses being a YBA (Young British Artist) and the "Great Bear" tube map piece briefly here.se-05.10.01

Just returned from Amsterdam where bicycles are king and design is queen. Among Amsterdam's many great design sources, the bikes offered by Kronan Offline are so elegantly functional that they're a perfect symbol for the confident simplicity of everyday objects there. They're a testament to a way of living more while consuming less.
se-04.06.01

Historical US maps from a collection at the University of Texas at Austin. Includes some handy links to current maps as well.
kg-04.02.01

I don't carry a watch and need this desperately: The current and accurate time in your area. I also dig the little map that shows you the places on the globe where it's currently daylight.
kg-04.01.01

I remember being seven years old and going there for the first time. The walls are glass and angle inwards so that, if you have tennis shoes and get a running start, you can run up the windows and slide down again until your mom finds out.
se-03.14.01

Series of London Underground maps going back to 1908, showing the evolution of that design. Also includes geographic maps, like this one, showing the actual relative locations of each stop. The reality, of course, is not so tidy.
kg-01.26.01

World-renowned artists' retreat just north of Chicago. Wouldn't we all dig 2 weeks there?
dr-12.08.00

We love to check out city transit maps for the way in which they distill a large amount of information into its simplest graphic form. Some of them do this better than others. My personal favourite remains the map of LondonÎs Underground. But check out the happy chaos of Tokyo's transport system maps --each completely different from the next! Map 1.Map 2.Map 3. Plus, here's a great general site for transit map links.
se-10.18.00